Rwanda takes genocide suspect into custody

The Democratic Republic of Congo transferred a suspect in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide to Rwanda on Sunday, Rwandan officials said.

Ladislas Ntaganzwa, a former Rwandan mayor indicted for his alleged role in the slaughter of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by ethnic Hutu militias, was arrested in eastern Congo in December.

“The national public prosecution authority is pleased to announce the transfer and handover of Ladislas Ntaganzwa … to the national public prosecution of Rwanda,” Prosecutor General Richard Muhumuza said in a statement.

Muhumuza said Ntaganzwa – who headed the commune of Nyakizu in southern Rwanda and was indicted in 1996 by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda – is accused of genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide as well as extermination, murder and rape.

The United States had offered up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.

“We are very happy to see this effected. We’ve been long waiting for this and we are happy that the Mechanism for the International Tribunals has … delivered him from DRC,” Jean Bosco Siboyintore, head of Rwanda’s Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit told reporters at Kigali’s airport.

The Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which closed in December – has convicted 61 people for involvement in the genocide, including leading military and government officials.

New cases stemming from the genocide are expected to be heard by Rwandan courts or a separate tribunal – the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals – backed by the United Nations.